All them cranck pins needing torque

Every home should have access to a modern programmable plasma cutter.

A while back I made this little (well it aint that small after all) tool allowing all them cranck pins to be torqued without having to worry how to secure the cranck to the bench.
Its made with holes for both Panhead, 45" and J model crancks, in the pic the long bolts are placed in the J slots, will stay underneath when using the smaller ones for a Panhead cranck or vice versa.


Wonder why Harley didnt keep them small holes in the same line to the cranck center on various models?

ISDT 1923

Still working trough the last bunch of pics found from the Scandinavian 1923 ISDT rally.
One of our Norwegian motorcycle heroes, Knut Espedal rode his Harley Davidson 61" (1000cc) in a team with 3 other Harley riders, Oscar Wiger, Ernst Vaumund, and Eric Mathiesen as well as one Indian run by Bjarne Wisth, oh yeah we know he was soon to convert from Injuns to Harley.

Knut did very well in the 1000cc class, according to relatives he held the lead trough out the rally, except from one heat where he lost control and got a head injury as well as a broken arm.
Did the accident set an end to Knuts participation in the race? Oh no, he soon flied the hospital to find his team mates had got his bike back to fit and continued the remaining heats with great success.

ISDT 1923

Back in 1923 the International Six Days Trials ISDT was held in Sweden / Norway. SMC (the Swedish Motorcycle Club) was in charge and NMK (Norsk Motorcycle Klub) organized the part of the event that took place in Norway. When the trials where in Norway a speed test up the Korketrekkeren hills was a part of the game.

To be a part of a National team in an ISDT rally was a great challenge for the riders, and to win one of the several competitions during the event was of great honor.

Have been working on a compilation based on the Norwegian ISDT team in 23 for a year now, still finding new pictures from various participants relatives.

Enjoy this great shot taken inside a huge Swedish warehouse where all participants parked their bikes during the night.





Oh boy there is a bunch of great bikes in this pic.

Panhead Panhead Panhead Panhead

OK, I`ve been a real slacker with my blogging lately, luckily though not that slack with my Panhead project.

Got both heads and my cases welded, heads suffered from wear caused by rattling exhaust pipes and a broken upper motor mount, cases had chips broken off.

To get them exhaust ports back to shape I was lucky enough to be able to lend an old CNC mill with operator at a local machine shop Br. Mangseth AS, boy do I want one of these for next Christmas. I see umpteen different solutions to make stuff I didnt even know I needed with such a tool :-)

Then there is this work that I hate with every project, Finnish. Boy do I hate the smell of Bondo, sticcking to my fingers and all tools involved in trying to get that shit into the old steel, like mudguards etc.
Not to forget sanding that damned bondo, leaving every square mm of your workshop covered with dust, argh.
Just wish I could afford to rent someone to do that time consuming pine of a job.

OK OK, its way cool when you finally get them ol parts back from the painter, all fresh and shining bright, its almost worth the hassle of bondo, almost.

My painter this time is awesome with his eye for details in his job, its just great.

Got my frame zink primed, will never rust, ever. Needs a bit of rubbing and then off to the painter too.

Ehhr, did I mention the theme is black this year? I promise there is no black as black as this black, we are talking Black-black.
And I suggest you go and study the variations of black (they are umpteen to say the least) in ultra-violet light, you will be amazed!!!

AmericanMotorcyclesNorway

Ok guys and gals, I have had two busy days in collecting more great shots from past Norwegian bikers and race heroes since long forgotten.

Enjoy this ubercool capture of a gang of Norwegian bikers on tour early twenties.
Who said bob jobs where some new trend? Check out that Indian job at the far left and that roadster bars on the Harley next by.

8 valves Swedish special

I`ve always dreamed on owning a 8 valve OHV Harley based on the IOE motor. The best would of course be to have a factory job as "Master Erik" Westerberg from Sweden once roared on Scandinavian tracks, this though would be be a very unreal dream as those few "real" 8 valves still in existence is limited to be bought by anyone having very very deep pockets, not at all for an average guy payed by the hour.
Today there is another option in getting a repop off the real deal, a Fred Lange reproduction, wich is still cool as hell and not at all cheap neither, but at least in reach. One very cool bike built on Fred Langes parts is Harry Hackers of Harleysons.de GrosGlockner hillclimber beast, well known from a Youtube video you most for sure have seen before. More on this at the Vinagent blog too.

The urge to own a Harley as those once owned by a handful of men in Europe, like Erik and Freddy Dixon and others have caused some creativity trough time.
One very cool modification have been mentioned on this blog before, the fact that a Rudge 4 cylinder OHV head fits the cylinder base of a Harley IOE motor.
The bike presented in this post was built in Sweden like 40 years ago, not by an average gear head, rather a mechanical specialist, more on that later but for sure it proves anything is possible when you really want to.

In the meantime enjoy on hell of a bike that have not seen the light in many many years.

The Glostrup races in 1924

This is the whole picture from where I lent a part to the previous post on Jac. Hansen. Captured in Glostrup Denmark in 1924 we see the handicap match between participating nations in the race; Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. This spesific match was mentioned as the most important and thrilling of all races this weekend by the local newspaper Ekstra Bladet.














Shown in the picture are from left to right;

Norwegian motorcycle race ace Macke Nicolaysen on Jac. Hansen`s Harley A-2345. Why did Macke chose to ride Jac`s bike rather than his own, A-1503?
I do not know but Jac's bike was most likely faster, after all Jac. did beat Macke in the tourist class race where he crossed the finnish line as second whilst Macke where third. Then on the other hand, why did Macke borrow Jac`s Harley, rather than Herman Oppens Henderson C-1118. After all, Oppen won the tourist class race on his De-luxe. My personal opinion is you need to be familiar with the Henderson to be able to use the potential, Macke neither rode nor raced four`s, not as far as I have found.

Why did not Jac. or Oppen compete in this more prestigeous race? After all they did a first and second in a previous race. I recon this is due to the fact Macke where the senior amongst the three Norwegian riders, he had been at the Fanø races in 1919 as well as he raced at the Glostrup track in 1923.

Number two from left is Swede, "master" Erik Westerberg on a Harley. Erik rides a Harley with a racing keystone frame and a two-cam engine. Erik have not brought his best bike to this event, as we know he had several bikes and owned two eight valve Harley racing motorbikes in his active race career.

Number three from left is Dane, Chr. Walther on an Indian bigvalve racer. He is frequently mentioned in the book written on the Fanø beach races. Chr. Walther was one of the best Danish riders at the time.

Finally number four is German Albert Schuster. His bike is a German made Wanderer OHV 8 valve 750cc racing bike. Albert won the German "Bäderrennen" in the 750 class races in both 1923 & 1924 on this Wanderer.

As said before, this particular race was classed as a "handicap" race. Whilst Walthers & Westerberg both had to start from the starting line, Schuster got 10 sec. and Macke a 5 sec. advance from start. The Danish newspaper EkstraBladet claimed this race to be considered as the highlight of the weekend.
We can only imagine how it felt to be present at the the track when we know the races at Glostrup were totalizator races ala today's horse racing, including beers and booze for the spectators and big money in circulation as there were fierce betting prior to every race. Numbers of spectators at this event exceeded 5000 heads.

It is exciting to know that the odds prior to the race claimed Chr. Walters would win, Westerberg as two, Macke as three and Schuster as fourth to cross the finnish line.

When we know the final result showed Schuster became No. 1, Walther # 2, Westerberg # 3 and finally our own hero Macke fourth, it`s likely to believe some regretted their losses whilst a few have celebrated their profits.

Below is a pic taken in the last moments before start where the drivers get ready. Googles must be no dew, the helmet firmly secured and nerves must be kept under control in order to react quickly at the start signal.
You will see from this photo the drivers location from track center is different than in the photo above, Erik, Macke, Chr. Walthers and Schuster.